some action movie from the nineties that my mom always pretended to hate and secretly loved — and we pile onto the couch.
My dad in the middle.
Me on one side.
Cassian on the other.
The blanket.
Her blanket.
The soft one.
Spread across all three of us.
• • •
Three-way snuggle.
With my dad.
I never thought I’d say those words but here we are.
The movie starts.
My dad steals the popcorn.
Cassian takes it back.
My dad steals it again.
I watch both of them.
• • •
This.
This is what she built.
This specific thing — three people on a couch with her blanket and her movie room and her popcorn bowl — is what she made room for.
She always made room.
I pull the blanket up.
And let myself be held by all of it.
It feels like she’s here laughing with us too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD
• • •
We end up back in my room after the movie.
The way we always end up back in my room.
